Freakshow - Chapter 10
A Multi-Author Episodic
Freakshow is an episodic adventure begun by
of Tiny Worlds. It’s a story where each chapter is written by a new author. There is no story plan here, so each chapter is a surprise — join in the story and read along: I’ll update with links to future chapters.Chapter 3 — Keith Long (Hey, that’s me)
Chapter 10 — Keith Long (You’re right here, friend)
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Music to read by — Entering Lumon (ODESZA Severance Remix) by Theodore Shapiro (I haven’t watched this show, but I enjoy the soundtrack and it’s remix companion)
out of an alley slid the thin shadow of a girl and a cat. the shadow girl stood on the soles of freakshow, stretching out to the street. the shadow cat was only a shadow, connected to nothing, not real, not there. it wanted to be there, begged to be called, but Byleth pulled freakshow out of existence the more she pulled it in. she told herself she couldn’t hear it purring, that was just the subway underground. she couldn’t feel it circling her legs, that was just the draft from the passing cars. she told herself she wouldn’t call it. never again. Yet, the power called.
down the curb walked freakshow, covering ground like a shadow, Leaving a wake of empty pockets and twitchy minds. she slid past shop fronts and shady strangers, tracing unseen Equations in the concrete that added up to a book. a book with answers, solutions. The math doesn’t lie, people do.
Her father does.
the book screamed silently inside her head and the math moved her over the City in a fibonacci spiral back toward him, her father, cyclical, repetitive. Of course, he had the book. but where there is repetition there is rhythm. this song and dance she and her father did, it was familiar, she knew the steps. but rhythms and songs can become overplayed, cycles that run too long. where does it all end? her feet padded patterns quietly across streets and rooftops toward the headquarters of a Man bent on bending her head to his will.
she smelled patterns, even now.
how many secrets did he have? does one secret plus one secret Equal two, or does it equal a bigger secret. if a father has two Secrets which he keeps and one which his daughter steals, how many secrets will he have before no one truly knows him? how many can she have? she didn’t know. she didn’t know him, but she knew where to Find him. and byleth knew where to find her.
her shadow traced algorhythms across the city, Obscure geometry terminating at the s.r. headquarters. she needed to get inside, needed the book that screamed. she had hoped she could avoid her father and the cat she stole from him, but hopes don’t get you far out here.
one booth, two security guards, and a tuna sandwich. Ready, she licked her lips, felt the air on her whiskers, swished her tail and prepared to pounce. when she saw her shadow, she saw byleth. she blinked twice, the first wiped everything away and the second brought everything back. she was not byleth, her shadow was not feline. she still smelled Uncooked fish.
her skin purred with deadly amperage, mysterious muscles were stretched, twisted, pulled. the guard Screamed and threw his tuna sandwich, now a live flopping fish between two ciabattas.
chaos.
she slid past, quiet as a cat, feral and alive. she felt the world equalize, right itself beneath her, the math balancing the shift, the Addition of illusion negating the security. she heard with keen ears the call to other security officers. they knew she was here now, but that was okay. they’ll try to divide and conquer. she’ll have to divine and concur. if her father knew she was here, he would know what she would do. so she’ll have to do something unexpected. she always lands on her feet. she Laughed at the universe. she just needs that book, then she can melt away, deliquesce into the night. freakshow smiled and the world tilted. in the distant high rise window of the compound, a glass eye glinted, winking with fluorescent Light.
Artworks to Use — feel free to use any of these or none, it’s all Unsplash images.
Oh yes, fantastic! I love how you made sense of this Freakshow/Byleth connection and what that looks like and how it changes her. I could see her prowling the city as a cat and then morphing back into a human. Excellent and fun!
This is some beautiful work. It read like you were in quite a flow state when you wrote it.